Award Winners

Randal Brewer Williams, first recipient of the Award, with Jennifer’s mother in 2010

Isaiah Bell receiving the 2016 Jennifer F. Lewis Memorial Award. The JENNIFER F. LEWIS MEMORIAL AWARD was created to honor one of our former scholars who lost a six-year battle with cancer in 2008, after a remarkable but brief life. Jennifer ’06 showed academic prowess and was also involved in campus life and deeply committed to social justice and civil rights issues; she wanted to make them her life’s work.

Each year, we recognize a graduating senior who captures her spirit and who has made an impression on the Incentive Awards community—a student with impeccable character who demonstrates exemplary qualities and who embodies the ideals of the program as Jennifer did. Through the years, we have selected 13 students as recipients of this award—for their unwavering commitment to the program and for serving as models for others to follow.

The highest honor bestowed on an Incentive Award student, the Jennifer F. Lewis Memorial Award is accompanied by a financial gift from the family foundation created in her memory. Our heartfelt thanks go to all recipients for their dedication to IAP.

Randal Brewer Williams ’10 Amara Sillah ’10 Brittany Atkinson ’11 Djuan Short ’12 Nancy Canales ’13 Davian Morgan ’14 Charmaine Wilson-Jones ’15 Isaiah Bell ’16 Jessica Nolasco ’17 Chukwuma Odigwe ’18 Katherine Medina ’19 Taylor-Omaree Smith ’19 Roger Arangorin, Jr. ’21

In celebration of their 10-year college reunion, the class of 2008, Cohort 4, created the VISIONARY AWARD to provide financial support to a senior entering the workforce or graduate school. The Award, funded entirely by the cohort members, is intended to assist with personal and professional expenses (e.g., professional wardrobe, graduate school entrance exams, etc.) after graduation. This award is an outgrowth of the enduring friendship among Cohort 4 scholars and their affinity for the program, and an effort to pay forward the gifts they received through IAP. They hope to inspire future alumni to follow suit and contribute similarly.

After an application review process, members of Cohort 4 select winners based on the clarity of their vision for the future and a coherent and realistic plan to attain their professional goals. Congratulations to Roger Arangorin, Jr. ’21 for being the 2021 Visionary Award winner!

Allexxus Farley-Thomas ’18 Olatunji Onigbanjo ’19 I’Shea Boyd ’20 Roger Arangorin, Jr. ’21

Roger Arangorin, Jr., 2021 Visionary Award winner